The Army plans to release guidance by the end of March to transition vast repositories of data and processing capacity from Army-owned systems to joint DoD facilities by 2018. The service is on track to close 200 centers by 2015.

Defense Department's decision to centralize management of mobile technology is borne out of painful lessons from regular old wired IT networks. Budget pressure, officials say, makes it easier to sell the concept of doing things once and sharing the results.

The Army will open its next Apps for Army challenge to industry and the public, officials said Friday. The process is focused on developing capabilities that are not dependent on any particular platform.